


Aftereffect

by OwlOfMyLove



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 15:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2778902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlOfMyLove/pseuds/OwlOfMyLove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, Belle swore their child would be a product of True Love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftereffect

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 4x11

Belle locked the bathroom door, why she would never know. No one was in the pink house apart from her and no one would question why she would be taking so long in the bathroom. No one would notice if the library was closed for lunch longer than usual. She was alone and locking the door with no other occupants in the house only reminded her of such.

Beneath the sink in the cabinet was a box that Rumple had bought weeks ago. 

"Just in case," he told her with a gentle voice as he tuck the box away in the cabinet. "This way you don't need to make the trip yourself if you're too embarrassed."

She protested on that day that she would have no need to be embarrassed. It was something to celebrate, something that she wanted to shout from the tops of the clock tower if the results were in her favour.

Today she was thankful the box had been collecting dust all this time. She was in no position or mood to walk to the Pharmacy to find the box herself and pray that no one made any comments or looks that implied their curiosity. Belle needed privacy for this moment and she was given more than enough.  

It was a struggle to open the box.

Her hands violently trembled as she pulled off the clear plastic wrapping and dug a fingernail under the slit in the cardboard to allow her to reach the contents inside. Four skinny tests wrapped in a deep pink wrapper were waiting for use. As Belle reached into the box to pull out one of the tests, she found her motor skills turn on her, causing her to drop the box and have all of the contents splatter across the clean pearl white tile. 

Belle cursed herself for being so clumsy. 

"It's just a box. A simple test. You've faced worse before," she hissed under her breath as she reached for the closest test. 

Worse before indeed. 

xxx

The events of last night kept her up into the long hours of the night and without a doubt had been the most difficult of all the things she'd faced in her life. 

While all of Storybrooke wound down together with loved ones, she stood at the town line and made a move that only at the moment felt like a reasonable idea. She forced her husband across the town line and left him helpless in the middle of the road. Rumplestiltskin cried out for her and each voice-breaking cry he uttered as he called for her was another tear into her heart. 

He whimpered and called out for her on his hands and knees while she stood with her back towards him. She stood with her back towards her powerless love for mere minutes that dragged on to feel like endless hours. Belle could hear him struggle to find a stick to use for support, crying out as he tried to stand upright and walk on his mangled leg. Each cry of agony from Rumple's lips only broke her more, making her regret her sudden decision to send him across. 

"Come back to me," she whimpered as she listened to Rumple struggling to walk himself up the ditch with a suitable walking stick. "Come back to me. To Henry. To Storybrooke."

On the other side of the barrier Rumple only continued to whimper and groan as he walked down the endless road away from Storybrooke.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a sob. "I'm so sorry, Rumple."

xxx

Belle unwrapped the test and pulled off the pink cap, attempting to control her breathing before she was to commence. 

For days she felt off. A growing appetite and tender, enlarging breasts were new and unusual for her. Buttoning up her favourite white blouse was difficult as her new bust protested, telling her the clothing would not fit no matter how hard she tried to button the top up. It took no time at all after a failed attempt at dressing herself did she put the pieces together. Being late on her cycle was something she thought little of; books told her a woman under stress could do such a thing. 

Finally calm, she positioned herself accordingly and placed the stick between her legs. A steady hand was needed at this moment and by now she had been locked away in the bathroom for over half an hour just trying to open the box and breath normally. 

Once finished, she carefully placed the test on the counter and waited the allotted time instructed. 

A product of True Love; that's what she always thought their child would be. Like Emma Swan or baby Neal, born from parents who were in love with no dark secrets and no betrayal lurking around the corner. Foolish little fantasies had been built in her mind where she would imagine her budding stomach with their own product of True Love. The look on Rumple's face whenever he caught sight of her stomach and soothed her through all of the sickness and pains that were assisted with growing a child. Rumple would look upon their child the same adoring way he looked at Baelfire and love each child the same. But what would this child be if the results of the test announced she was bringing a new life into this world? _His_ True Love was power, not her. Rumple's True Love was proven to be power, not her. Was their child just a product of a desperate woman bedding a man she thought loved her instead? A man she thought had changed for the better and truly did love her more than power? 

Belle shook her head to scramble the thoughts away and slowly looked over the counter top to look at what the tiny test had to say. 

Positive.

Belle felt all of the hair in her lungs drawn out in a single gasp. Her knees were weak and slowly she dropped her body to the floor, leaning against the sink cabinet to hold her upright. 

She sent him away. Weak, powerless, without a way to take care of himself. The clothes on his back and the little money he had in his pocket was all he had to survive in the world without magic. The man she loved so dearly could never come back and now, because of her actions reflecting off of his, Rumplestiltskin would have another child in the word without a father. 

A straggled sob escaped her lips and at that moment cared not if all of Storybrooke heard her.

Loud, voice breaking, tears rushing down her pale cheeks, Belle cried and had no one there to comfort her. 

 

 


End file.
